Seven years later, Jenko and Schmidt meet again, this time while standing in line at the police academy, in your standard buddy comedy meet-up. As they both soon find out, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Jenko is still a great athlete; Schmidt is still incredibly smart. The two decide that they should work together. Jenko gets Schmidt in passable shape while Schmidt gets Jenko to become a below-average (but not failing) student. So far so good. After being reamed by the deputy chief, the two detectives are promptly shipped on down to 21 Jump Street, where their new boss (Ice Cube) tells Jenko and Schmidt that they’re going to be going under cover as high school students. The goal of Jenko and Schmidt: infiltrate the dealers and their ringleader Eric (Dave Franco, brother of James) and then sniff out the supplier. For once, a movie explains why they have 30-year-old high school students! Unfortunately for the cops from Jump Street, high school has changed quite a bit from 2005. Can the two grown men adjust to the new reality for teenagers? It matters not, for the film sparks into life with some style. There’s also a ton of surprising nods to the original show. Granted, I don’t remember the original show too well, but even accepting that, I’m surprised by just what they brought in. Apparently, co-screenwriters Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Project X) are fans, or at least did a lot of research. They also has a ton of fun with various high school stereotypes, contrasting the early 00s with the early 10s for good comedic effect. Still, aside from some vague plot points, this 21 Jump Street isn’t that 21 Jump Street, and doesn’t even try to be. This version is a straight-up action comedy, mixed with a little taste of high school drama for good measure. Think Pineapple Express: that’s the vibe 21 Jump Street gives off for most of its run, what with the drugs and guns and general craziness. Granted, at times it gets a little dumb, but it never fails to be pretty entertaining, even considering you’ve seen some of the good stuff in the trailer already. As for the cast? Well, Jonah Hill is Jonah Hill. You know what he does and how he does it by now. He’s the profane funny one, with the brains and sarcasm and undercurrent of angst. As for Channing Tatum, he’s a pleasant surprise. He’s got good timing, makes surprisingly good faces, and gets some laughs with a good physical comedy streak. I have to say, I was impressed. I didn’t expect much, but my expectations for him were surpassed. Supporting players, like Ice Cube, Ellie Kemper, Rob Riggle, and Nick Offerman, are generally underutilised, but still a lot of fun, and steal scenes when given the slightest opportunity. The action comedy is relatively new genre in cinematic terms, but it’s one that has been done fairly often in recent years. 21 Jump Street is certainly one of the better examples of recent times. It’s consistently entertaining, a bit too long, but generates solid laughts. And even though it’s light on plot, there’s a lot of fun things going on, and it’s a damn sight better than you may have been expecting. Recommended. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
title: “21 Jump Street Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-01” author: “Barbara Clark”
In Cloudy, they opened their film with the title credit ‘A Film By A Lot Of People’. Here, they aim firmly at the line between breaking the fourth wall, and allowing a sly wink at the audience. They get it spot on, too, never allowing their story to cheat, but comfortably making sure that everyone’s had a good time by the time the credits abruptly kick in. Only thing is, it’s modern day high school, where it’s suddenly cooler to be the sensistive, nerdy type, and straight away, this subverts the relationship between Hill and Tatum’s characters. The script, which Hill shares a story credit on, keeps things running quite tight, but still finds time for quality supporting characters, not least Cube’s police captain. What’s also surprising is just how many good belly laughs the film generates. Hill and Tatum are at the heart of most of them, making for an unconventional but surprisingly strong double act. Tatum, in particular, demonstrates an aptitude for comedy that you may not always have got from him, and if the teased sequel happens, it’d certainly be a pleasure to spend another 100 minutes in the company of these two. Perhaps the centrepiece is a quite brilliant amateur production of Peter Pan, which is one of the many surprises that the film holds that we’ve little intention of spoiling for you here. It’ll be instantly worth getting hold of the DVD at the first opportunity, just to relive the utterly bonkers final act again. Back when 21 Jump Street was first announced, Jonah Hill was quoted as saying that he wanted an “R-rated Bad Boys type action flick with the wit and wisdom of a John Hughes film”. It turns out, it got a damn sight closer to that than you may originally have given the project credit for. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
